AUST launches a new campaign to teach CPR for high school students
Ajman University of Science and Technology (AUST), vows to be an active contributor to the advancement and development of the UAE society. As a reflection for its philosophy and mission, AUST launched a campaign with a motto “Wa-man-ahyaha” (translation: whoever saves one’s life), specializing in training high school students, the principles of cardio pulmonary resuscitation (CPR), an important skill necessary to rescue victims of sudden cardiac arrest. This campaign aims to increase the level of awareness among citizens, to encourage and equip them to step up to save lives, and to enhance the university’s bonds with the community at large.
During the next weeks, a group of volunteering students from AUST, accompanied by Mrs. Alaa Al Amiry, lecturer, Faculty of University Requirements and Academic Counseling, and Ms. Noor Al Chaghouri, Community Services Officer, AUST, visited selected high schools in Ajman and Northern Emirates on a weekly basis. The three-hour workshop was divided into one hour of theory lecture with video presentations, followed by two hours of hands-on practice, where school students had the chance to demonstrate their newly-learned skills, with AUST volunteers who received proper training prior to the campaign; supervised by Mrs. Al Amiry.
Ms. Al Chaghouri explained that “Wa-man-ahyaha” campaign has launched on Wednesday 16th of April, at Al Nouman Bin Al Basheer Secondary School for boys, located at Ajman, and the following week at Asma’a Bint Umais Secondary School for girls. She added that currently the university community services is arranging for more workshops with other schools in Ajman, UAQ, and Sharjah to be held soon.
This initiative stems from the role that the community service department plays which is to spread the awareness to the high school students by giving them the most necessary and important life skills they need for the reason of preparing a generation of wise youth; however, the community service department also insists on involving the university students as volunteers in the campaign so they can benefit from it.
Mrs. Al Amiry emphasized that the first minutes of a patient’s life after an injury, are critical and crucial to their survival. Therefore, it is necessary to act as soon as cardiac arrest occurs, before the arrival of an ambulance. She highlighted the fact that 80% of cardiac arrest cases, as indicated by medical research, occur at homes, away from hospitals and healthcare personnel, hence this campaign; with a goal to train as many community members as possible of by targeting high school students, i.e. the youth.
In addition, Mrs. Al Amiry, who holds Master’s Degree in Emergency Health Services from Maryland University of Baltimore County, along with many specialized and advanced certificates in paramedics, underscored the importance of Automated External Defibrillator (AED), and its use by the public. AED is a safe machine that delivers electrical shocks to victim’s heart when arrest occurs. Abu Dhabi and Dubai already distributed AEDs at public places, such as malls and airports, to enable public usage in the event of cardiac arrest, while waiting for ambulance to arrive. The campaign will also train high school students on safe use of these machines.
The campaign adheres to the latest recommendations of the American Heart association (AHA), and utilizes state-of-the-art machines, as it uses professional CPR “Prestan” mannequins with instant visual feedback from the CPR Rate Monitor, which gives students a real-life-like experience.
